Family offices and venture capital: allocation and sentiment

Venture capital is a small allocation for most family offices, a large one for a minority, and the asset class where the gap between stated enthusiasm and actual exposure is widest. J.P. Morgan's 2026 Global Family Office Report, summarised by Gulf Business, found growth equity and venture capital at 3.3% of the average portfolio, with 57% of the 333 offices surveyed holding no exposure at all. Campden Wealth's 2025 North America report put venture at 5% of the average portfolio. Yet FINTRX data reported by Chief Investment Officer in 2026 show 45.8% of newly formed family offices expressing interest in venture, and PwC's 2025 deals study found venture made up 31% of all family office deals in the first half of 2025. Offices that do venture tend to do a lot of it.

How much is allocated

The spread between the J.P. Morgan and SVB figures is the point. SVB Capital and Campden Wealth's research, reported by Opalesque in 2020, surveyed 110 families with venture experience and found venture at 10% of their portfolios. Among the general population, J.P. Morgan found more than half hold nothing. Venture is a specialism, not a default allocation.

Direct or through funds

Venture-active families use both routes. The SVB and Campden research found the average venture portfolio was 54% direct investments and 46% funds, with 92% of offices co-investing alongside other families and venture funds and co-investments making up 19% of the venture book. A follow-up reported by Opalesque in 2021 found offices held an average of 10 venture funds and 17 direct venture investments, and planned 18 new investments over the following two years, 12 of them direct.

Direct venture requires access that most families do not have. The SVB research found the best deals remain hard to reach and that most offices rely on their existing networks for deal flow. BlackRock's 2025 survey, summarised by Caproasia, found only 13% of offices expected to increase venture allocations, the lowest of any alternative category, against 33% for private credit. How offices find deals is covered in deal sourcing for family offices.

Stage preferences

Family offices lean later than the venture industry as a whole. Citi's 2025 report asked offices that invested directly in the prior year which stages they favoured: growth stage (Series C or D) 52%, early stage (Series A or B) 37%, secondary transactions 30%, pre-IPO 22%, and startup, incubation or seed 20%. BNY Wealth's 2025 survey found 48% of offices prioritise growth equity within private equity, against 13% for buyout. The SVB and Campden research found venture-active offices held 48% of their venture portfolio in growth investments, 28% in pre-seed and seed and 24% in Series A.

The late-stage tilt has a cost. Goldman Sachs' 2025 research, reported by Worth, found the average time to IPO had risen from 6.7 years to almost 11 years, so growth-stage positions can be held far longer than families expect.

The 2026 market

The market families are entering in 2026 is concentrated to a degree with no precedent. PitchBook and NVCA data reported by Axios show US companies raised $412.7bn in the first half of 2026 alone, more than any full year on record, with over 81% of the money going to rounds of $100m or more and seven rounds of $1bn or more in the second quarter. The Q1 2026 Venture Monitor found 88.8% of first-quarter deal value went to AI companies, although they made up 42.5% of deal count. Median pre-money valuations were $18.4m at seed, $62m at Series A and $579m at Series C.

Venture fund formation has not kept pace. The same report found $47.8bn raised across 172 funds in the first quarter of 2026, against $66.7bn for the whole of 2025. Exit value of $347.3bn in the first quarter falls to $97.3bn once SpaceX and xAI are excluded.

Family offices are investing into AI with their eyes open. UBS's 2026 report found 65% of offices already invested in AI across the value chain, while the US edition found 71% of US family offices believe the AI sector is currently experiencing a bubble. Venture is also the asset class where the next generation is most involved, which next-generation investment priorities examines. The wider direct investing data are in family office direct investing in 2026.